1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunication systems. In particular, the invention is directed to a method and system for the routing of short messages.
2. Description of Related Art
The known phrase “short message service” refers to a telecommunication service for the transmission and receipt of short text messages. In a GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) mobile communication network, for example, the short message service provides a means for sending messages having a maximum length of 160 characters to a GSM terminal. Implementing of a short message service requires a short message service center which functions as a center at which short messages are stored and from which they are further transmitted. Typically, a particular short message service center of a mobile network is set up or defined, in the telecommunication terminal (such as a mobile station), as the one with which that terminal communicates in carrying out short messaging functions and communication. There are two point-to-point functions defined for the short message service: Mobile Originated, which denotes a message originated by a telecommunication terminal or terminal device; and Mobile Terminated, which denotes a message that is addressed to a telecommunication terminal or device.
Many services operated using or by means of short messages have been implemented in telecommunication networks, and particularly in mobile communication networks. In a bank service application, for example, the user of a telecommunication terminal can pay his bills using a short message service. To do this, the user sends a short message in a predetermined format through a short message service center to a predetermined number. The predetermined format of the short message contains the data required for execution of the bank service function. The predetermined number has been defined as a particular address in a fixed data network, and the short message service center performs an address conversion from the predetermined number to the data network address. A bank application in the data network processes the command delivered in the short message and sends a response via the short message center to the user of the telecommunication terminal from which the request originated.
In the situation described above, the short message service center is an essential component for the bank application; i.e., because the short message service center has to perform a specific address conversion, the application is dependent on the operation and required functionality that is provided by that particular short message service center and often on the network operator as well. This necessary reliance is a source of problems for subscribers using different networks because the service application is therefore only available in certain networks. If a subscriber in a first network wants to use a service application provided in a second or different network, then the subscriber has to specially define or redefine, in his telecommunication terminal, a short message service center of the second network for the time during which he is using the service application. The subscriber must also perform this operation between two short message service centers in the network of the same operator.
Heretofore known is a method by which a short message of Mobile Terminated format can be forwarded, as a short message in Mobile Originated format, by means of a telecommunication terminal. However, the short message must cross a radio interface, and thus necessarily entails a waste of limited radio network capacity. This method cannot, moreover, be applied to a large number of short messages that must be simultaneously transmitted. In a known solution, the operator of the first network may perform a conversion service in a short message service center in the first network; this requires, however, special agreement between the operators of the first and second networks.